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Lot Essay
Flowers was painted in 1955, during Joseph Zaritsky's sojourn in Paris. Zaritsky left Israel for Paris in the summer of 1954: 'I felt the urge to travel and study the paintings in Europe and to meet colleagues'. (quoted in M. Omer, op. cit., p. 160). After Paris he continued to Amsterdam where he was given a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in October 1955
Zaritsky was born in the Ukraine in 1891 and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1923. He was considered a modernist artist, a father figure to the local artistic community. Zaritsky was a prominent member of the innovative New Horizons movement established in 1948. The members of this movement strove to create progressive international art in Israel.
In his Paris period, Zaritsky tried to break away from the sentimental and local connections and work in a more international style. He witnessed the rise of abstract painting, in an interview in 1956 he said: 'The non-objectif painters are more evident worldwide. These artists do not emphasize knowingly and intentionally their roots and homeland landscape; these are evident anyhow in their work. As man, certainly the artist can not deny his landscape and being ... An Israeli artist will express his homeland anyhow, he must see himself as part of the international artistic community... contemporary art can not disengage itself from contemporary philosophy. The human thought is abstract and raises painting to abstract artistic expression...'. (G. Ballas, Ofakim Hadashim - New Horizons Modernist Israeli Artists 1948-1963, Tel Aviv, 1980, p. 58)
The Paris period paintings are rooted in the earlier Yechiam series landscapes. In Flowers the laying of the paint is more free than in earlier watercolours and oils of the Yechiam period. The red square in the lower right corner breaks out towards the centre of the canvas. A small figure, perhaps the artist, features to the right of the composition's centre. Thus Zaritsky still maintains his ties to his quasi-figurative works of the early 1950s.
The trip to Europe will become a turning point in Zaritsky's career, international recognition strengthened his position within the Israeli artistic community and his work in Paris and Amsterdam in 1955-1956 is considered today amongst his most important.
Zaritsky was born in the Ukraine in 1891 and immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1923. He was considered a modernist artist, a father figure to the local artistic community. Zaritsky was a prominent member of the innovative New Horizons movement established in 1948. The members of this movement strove to create progressive international art in Israel.
In his Paris period, Zaritsky tried to break away from the sentimental and local connections and work in a more international style. He witnessed the rise of abstract painting, in an interview in 1956 he said: 'The non-objectif painters are more evident worldwide. These artists do not emphasize knowingly and intentionally their roots and homeland landscape; these are evident anyhow in their work. As man, certainly the artist can not deny his landscape and being ... An Israeli artist will express his homeland anyhow, he must see himself as part of the international artistic community... contemporary art can not disengage itself from contemporary philosophy. The human thought is abstract and raises painting to abstract artistic expression...'. (G. Ballas, Ofakim Hadashim - New Horizons Modernist Israeli Artists 1948-1963, Tel Aviv, 1980, p. 58)
The Paris period paintings are rooted in the earlier Yechiam series landscapes. In Flowers the laying of the paint is more free than in earlier watercolours and oils of the Yechiam period. The red square in the lower right corner breaks out towards the centre of the canvas. A small figure, perhaps the artist, features to the right of the composition's centre. Thus Zaritsky still maintains his ties to his quasi-figurative works of the early 1950s.
The trip to Europe will become a turning point in Zaritsky's career, international recognition strengthened his position within the Israeli artistic community and his work in Paris and Amsterdam in 1955-1956 is considered today amongst his most important.